Bulletin for Thursday, October 16, 2014
Let’s start off with a vital piece of trivia to impress your guests at the next Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (from National Geographic):
It started as a joke- and ended up among the most commonly used words in the world. This year marks the 175th anniversary of “OK,” first printed in a Boston newspaper in March 1839. Caught up in a fad for whimsical misspellings and abbreviations, editors indicated that a statement was all correct by using the first two letters in “oll korrect.” By 1840, “OK” had gone national, used even by Martin Van Buren’s presidential campaign. His nickname? Old Kinderhook.
Guests this morning:
Paul Heil, Rotarian from Apple Valley, Minnesota
Fred Sweeney, RC Burl North
Ken Jacques, guest speaker
Jules Villinger, visiting from Germany
Juliette Gateau, exchange student
Juliette’s week- Friday was a PA Day, so she went to Toronto for the day, took in many sites including Casa Loma, Chinatown, and Kensington Market. Then she went up to Dean and Beth’s country place in Meaford for the long weekend. Hikes, hot tub, lots of laughs, way too much food, but she enjoyed her first Canadian Thanksgiving. Juliette also mentioned that she is raising money as part of the exchange student “We are the World” team in the Haunted Hill Run for diabetes in Bolton next weekend. As usual, our generous members already helped her raise more than half of her $200 goal just this morning. Catherine has sent out a link to her website for on-line donations.
Turkey Trot- Fred Sweeney of Burl North stopped by to invite us to come out to Bronte Creek Park this Sunday for the 5/10k runs and 5k walk. Start times are 10:00 am and you can walk up and register if you like. Cost is $35 for the Walk and 5k run, $40 for the 10k run. More info: www.rotaryturkeytrot.ca
Blood Drive- Peter Skoretz reminded us of our pledge, so the next group donation time is Tuesday, October 21, 5:00 pm on.
Poinsettia Campaign- as you heard previously, the goal this year is $10,000, so please do your best to promote poinsettias to businesses and friends. Deadline for orders is Nov. 19.
Polio Day, Friday, Oct. 24- Pres. Catherine asked for 8 volunteers to help distribute Polio Awareness pamphlets at the Burlington GO Station, 7:15 – 8:15 am.
Gaffe of the Morning- Pres. Catherine asking guest Paul Heil why he was in town from Minnesota. Can’t repeat the exchange, this newsletter is G-rated. Needless to say, Catherine put both feet in it...
Sgt. Rene
Fines this morning to Lawrence (who apparently has the best family in the world), Rick Howarth and Bruce Maybury.
Happy $- Rob Sybersma for spending Thanksgiving in Vegas (what exactly he is thankful for stayed in Vegas apparently); Dean Rutty for having Juliette up to their Meaford home for Thanksgiving; Kathy Thomas for surviving an on-line travel booking scam (see her Facebook page for all the gory details).
Pres. Catherine also made us aware of a special guest speaker at Rotary Lakeshore on Tues. November 18- Terry Fallis, award-winning author of Best Laid Plans.
Guest Speaker- Ken Jacques, Creating a Healthy Community
I
n 2008, Ken woke up and couldn’t walk. He was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, told in no uncertain terms that diet had no impact on the disease, and he was put on low dose chemo. Ken decided to start exploring alternatives to traditional medical procedure.
He referenced several books he discovered on his journey:
- Wheat Belly by Dr. W. Davis, about how a radically changed diet has healed several diseases;
- Mind Over Medicine by Dr. L. Rankin, about the impact of stress and how your mind can help heal you;
- Radical Remission by Dr. Kelly Turner, about cancer and 9 common factors that impact healing;
- The Unhealthy Truth by Robyn O’Brien, chronicling her journey to expose the food industry after her daughter had a violent reaction to eggs
In 2011, Ken started a blog, and in 2012, created what he calls his “Big Audacious Dream”, which, simply put, is to start the conversation about how we can all work together to build a healthy community in Burlington.
Ken believes we understand many of the factors that are potential root causes of many conditions, but often don’t let the body do what it is designed to do: heal itself. We aren’t teaching people what we know; the system encourages the masking of symptoms. What if our education system taught us alternatives such as the link between social status and illness; or if we had “wellness awareness campaigns” instead of illness campaigns; or if physicians spent more than 3 hours learning about nutrition in medical school so they can truly educate their patients on what is healthy for their body.
Ken suggested some sample projects to get us going:
- company wellness plans
- healthier food in food banks
- food projects where farmers, grocery stores and restaurants work together
- school science fair projects
A very interesting talk, Ken gave us all a lot to think about, and hopefully inspired us to create a healthier community in Burlington.